Twenty years ago Michael Douglas turned in an Oscar-winning performance in the film Wall St. playing corporate raider Gordon Gecko. His mantra, offered with evangelical zeal was "greed is good."
Yesterday the president of the United States warned of financial disaster in what should be a great and prosperous nation because of some very bad actors on Wall St. who have been living the "greed is good" credo. Obviously the financial crisis in the U.S. is a complex issue, but it sobering to hear about the gross profiteering of executives in many companies. The six "biggies" among corporate execs received a total of nearly $300 million last year. Executive salaries in the States now average 344 times the salary of an "foot soldier" worker. Those average workers and their partners and offspring will now be on the hook for a bail-out costing over $2,000 each. It's unfair. It's sickening. Wouldn't 700 billion dollars create a health care system that would be the envy of the world for the many Americans who can't afford good health insurance?
Jesus cautioned about the effects of wealth more than any other topic and warned about the love of money as the root of all evil. Greed is one of the Seven Deadly Sins and deserves to be.
Of course we all need to be cautioned about greed and choose the antidote which is generosity.
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